Does Your Job Fit Your Personality?

Whether you’re a millennial or a baby boomer, experiencing a mid-life career switch or just starting out, everyone wants to be doing something with his or her career that is truly satisfying. However, to be truly satisfied in our profession, we first need to know what we are born to do.

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Do What You Are

Learning what we are meant to do and finding the perfect career is widely dependent on defining one’s personality traits. After all, personality traits directly affect our work lives. They explain how we communicate with people, how we plan our future, how we respond to conflict, what motivates us, and what can cause us stress, among other things. Moreover, these behavioral differences will inevitably point us down one career path or another.

There are different types of tests and assessments that measure variables such as intelligence, aptitude and personality. Aptitude tests measure how well a person performs a function and what their potential is. Personality assessments measure a person’s preferred way of being. These assessments measure underlying traits and characteristics and break into two categories: trait-based or type-based. The biggest difference between the two types is traits cause behavior while types imply personality preferences.

Learn Who You Are

If you are ready to take charge of your goals and your future, a personality assessment is a way to help you do it. Understanding how you think, communicate and interact with people will identify personality differences and inherent tendencies that can be useful in choosing your career.

There are four basic type preferences that mix into 16 entirely different personality types:

1. Extraversion and Introversion (E and I): these types tell whether you receive your energy from being around other people or by spending time alone
2. Sensing and Intuition (S and I): these varieties speak to whether you prefer to work with precise facts and concrete details, or if you prefer hunches
3. Thinking and Feeling (T and F): these two types indicate the difference between whether you make decisions based on logical analysis or through consideration of values
4. Judging and Perceiving (J and P): these indicators tell whether you like to plan things ahead of time, or if you prefer to go with the flow with your options open

Knowing yourself and your behaviors can help you get a handle on your strengths, and thus be able to seek career opportunities that will lead to immense satisfaction at work. If you’re interested in taking an online assessment, click here to take the Myers-Briggs Assessment.

Become Who You Are

The following is a breakdown of the 16 potential Myers-Briggs Personality types with suggestions of possible career directions:

• ISTJ – The Duty Fulfillers – police and detectives, judges, lawyers, medical doctors, dentists, military leaders

• ESTJ – The Guardians – military leaders, police/detective work, judges, financial officers, teachers, sales reps

• ISFJ – The Nurturers – interior decorators, designers, nurses, child care, social work, paralegals, clergy/religious workers, bookkeepers

• ESFJ – The Caregivers – home economics, nursing, teaching, child care, clergy, counselors, accounting

• ISTP – The Mechanics – police and detective work, forensic pathologists, computer programmers, engineers, carpenters, mechanics, pilots, athletes

• ESTP – The Doers – sales reps, marketing, paramedics/EMT, network cablers, computer tech support, entrepreneurs, athlete

• ESFP – The Performers – artists, performers, actors, child care, fashion designers, consultants, photographers

• ISFP – The Artists – artist, musician, designer, psychologist, veterinarian, forest ranger, pediatrician, teacher

• ENTJ – The Executives – corporate executive, computer consultant, entrepreneur, lawyer, judge, university professor/administrator

• INTJ – The Scientists – scientists, engineers, medical doctors, corporate strategists, computer programmers

• ENTP – The Visionaries – lawyers, psychologists, photographers, consultants, actors, sales reps, marketing, systems analyst

• INTP – The Thinkers – physics, chemistry, mathematicians, engineers, forensic research, forestry/park rangers, strategic planners

• ENFJ – The Givers – facilitator, consultant, human resources, events coordinator, politician/diplomat, writer

• INFJ – The Protectors – clergy, teachers, alternative health care practitioners, psychiatrists, musicians, photographers, child care

• ENFP – The Inspirers – writer/journalist, television reporter, scientist, engineer, artist, actor, teacher, politician, consultant

• INFP – The Idealists – writer, social worker, psychologists, psychiatrists, musicians, clergy, teachers, professors

Network With Others

Now that you know your personality, and the potential career choices that will set you up for success, the next step is to connect.

Begin making meaningful connections with the people in the field you want to explore, that are living in the location you wish to reside, and doing the job you want to do with GetAssist. It is the only meaningful platform that will help you connect with purpose, and without distractions or clutter.